As more and more people sign on to information networks, congestion of the communications links comprising these networks, both wireline and wireless, and the consequential transmission delays become increasingly significant problems. Faster transmission rates, data compression techniques, and more efficient spectrum utilization are among the approaches that have been considered, and to some extent implemented, to increase the capacities of communications links.
One area of particularly rapid growth is the electronic messaging field. More and more people are moving about with portable devices, such as laptop computers and portable digital devices, which can be economically equipped to function as message sending/receiving terminals. Moreover, wireless paging hardware, software, and support services are being upgraded to accommodate two-way messaging. That is, portable pagers are being developed not only to receiving paging messages, but also to send back a signal acknowledging receipt of a paging message or even a message answering the received paging message. While such upgraded paging services are highly desirable, they can severely strain the capacity of wireless paging channels.